New London art exhibit branded racist for using black actors as slaves in 'human zoo'

CONTROVERSIAL: Activists aren't pleased that an exhibition on black slavery was produced by a white artist [SWNS]

Exhibit B, by artist Brett Bailey, has people chained and caged in a reflection of the human zoos popular in the 19th century, to demonstrate the "brutal reality behind colonisation".

Brett, a white man with a wealthy background who grew up in Apartheid South Africa, reckons his piece is thought-provoking.

He said: "It is a piece about humanity; about a system of dehumanisation that affects everybody within society, regardless of skin colour, ethnic or cultural background, that scours the humanity from the 'looker' and the 'looked at.'"

Activists have slammed the work, set to open at The Barbican in London from September 23-27, and more than 2,500 people have signed a petition calling for it to be scrapped — though Baribican's Head of Theatre, Toni Racklin, has defended the show.

“We don't believe that in order to remind people of the horrors of racism, enslavement, apartheid and colonial rule it is necessary to place black people in cages”

Zita Holbourne

When defending an earlier showing of his work in Edinburgh, Brett said: "What interests me about human zoos is the way people were objectified.

"Once you objectify people, you can do the most terrible things to them. But what we are doing here is nothing like these shows, where black people were brought from all over Africa and displayed in villages."

However, as the gallery includes pieces such as a black man painted in stone grey and told to sit perfectly still, critics have called the legitimacy of his work into question.

Zita Holbourne, co-founder of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts, said: "We don't believe that in order to remind people of the horrors of racism, enslavement, apartheid and colonial rule it is necessary to place black people in cages and put them on display in an exhibition and that this exhibition does nothing to promote race equality."

Part of the petition, started by journalist Sara Myers, reads: "We wish to register our utmost disgust at what we consider to be an outrageous act of complicit racism with the Barbican agreeing to the housing and display of this production.

The petition also mentions that even the actors in previous showings have protested about the nature of the exhibit.

The petition continues: "This is simply an exercise in white racial privilege - if it isn't, then perhaps Bailey can explain why he didn't use white people in his zoo. After all, wouldn't him doing so be both more striking and send a clearer message?"

Talking of people criticising his past work, Brett said: "People have said, 'White boy, you are messing with my culture. You have no right to tell the story of our spiritual practices or our history, because you are getting it all wrong.'

"And I can’t defend those works today in the same way I could back then. For all I know, I could look back at Exhibit B in 10 years and say, 'Oh my God, I am doing exactly what they are accusing me of.'

"But that’s the risk you take."

NEW GENERATION: The exhibit also shows scenes of modern racial conflicts [SWNS]